Day 21 – Contestants jostle for barrier positions as The Big Day dawns

Team Howard’s favorite NewsPoll appears to show an improvement in their ‘fortunes’ but even Dennis Shanahan is reluctant to call it a narrowing, as the latest poll is still consistent with those of the last 8 months. What they show if tomorrow’s anticipated interest rate rise goes ahead remains to be seen. Meanwhile Team Howard are still working hard to convince voters that while they can’t control interest rates, they can control them better than Kevin07, judiciously avoiding any mention of skills shortages and capacity constraints as contributing causes of inflation.

On the pork-barreling front, Team Howard further demonstrated their environmental credentials by recycling previously announced pledges on Road Funding to the tune of $13 billion to make up for the previous 11 years of neglect.

Kevin07 has announced a $500 million initiative to reduce homelessness over 5 years. Team Howard’s Mal Brough reckons it won’t work, so why bother trying? Presumably Brough wasn’t watching last night’s Four Corners with its harrowing tales of community destruction resulting from the dog’s breakfast that is the NT Intervention.

Commentators and Team Howard are still trying to get mileage out of Garrett’s Gaffe, but it has been upstaged somewhat by revelations that Minister for Mills, Malcolm Turnbull is not actually all that keen on a Tamar Valley Pulp Mill, and the incredulous promise by soon-to-be-ex-Work-Choices Minister Joe Hockey that he would resign if there were any further changes to Work Choices. Would changing its name let him off the hook? Since when do Team Howard Ministers resign for any reason, unless it is politically expedient?

ABC analysis with Antony Green last night suggests that the Greens are getting traction with their pitch for an umpiring role in the Senate and seem set to exercise a significant balance of power role whoever wins government, promising restoration of the role of Senate Committees to ensure well-crafted legislation and curbing of government excess and hubris.

For the polling improvement, a point to Team Howard. They’ll probably need it after tomorrow.